FEBRUARY 2016

Professor Ron Robin, Now NYU Senior Provost, Named President-Elect of University of Haifa
Prof. Ron Robin
The Presidential Search Committee for the President of the University of Haifa has unanimously decided to recommend Professor Ron Robin to be the next president of the University. 
Prof. Robin spent 20 years at the University, teaching History and serving as Dean of Students. He is currently Senior Vice Provost for Global Faculty Development at New York University where he has been instrumental in the development of NYU international campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai. 
Prof. Robin will succeed President Amos Shapira who will complete a full four-year term at the end of September 2016. President Shapira announced he will not pursue another term as President during the last session of the board of governors in June 2015 in order to allow for a proper search to be initiated by his successor.  Read more.

Professor Emeritus Eviatar Nevo to Receive Prestigious 2016 Israel Prize in Life Sciences 
Professor Emeritus Eviatar Nevo
Professor Emeritus Eviatar Nevo, who founded the University of Haifa's Institute of Evolution in 1973 and directed it until 2008, will be the recipient of the prestigious 2016 Israel Prize for Life Sciences.

Presented annually on Independence Day, the Israel Prize is regarded as the State's highest honor, awarded for achievement in science and public service. Past winners include illustrious figures such as Martin Buber, Amos Oz, Golda Meir and Teddy Kollek.
 
In announcing the award, the Prize Committee noted that Professor Nevo is one of the fathers of modern evolutionary biology, into which he has instilled the study of flora and fauna in Israel and neighboring countries. He has deepened and broadened our knowledge of biological species in nature and their adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Read more. 

UH Researcher Links Zika Virus to Hot and Dry Winter, Not Heavy Rains as Previously Thought 
A preliminary study undertaken at the University of Haifa and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has found a linkage between the exceptionally hot and dry winter and spring recently experienced in northeast Brazil and the outbreak of the Zika virus.
The outbreak of the Zika virus, which is transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, has recently been associated with heavy rains in parts of Latin and Central America as a result of El Nino. 
However, the new and provisional findings of the study, undertaken by Dr. Shlomit Paz from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa with the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, suggest El Nino was actually involved in a completely different location. 
The relevant factor is not the heavy rain -- which actually fell in areas far removed from the outbreak -- but the wave of exceptionally hot and dry weather experienced over recent months in northeast Brazil, the area where the Zika virus erupted. Read more
University of Haifa Graduate Nadav Argaman Named Head of Shin Bet 
UH Study Finds More People Would Vote If They Could Vote From Home 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named Shin Bet Deputy Director Nadav Argaman,
a graduate of the University of Haifa, as the next head of the security service. 
 
Barring any difficulties in securing approval from the Turkel Committee, which oversees senior governmental appointments, Argaman will officially take up the position
in May.

Argaman, Netanyahu said in a statement, "has a proven track record of commanding and operative experience at the Shin Bet.  I am certain that under his command the Shin Bet will continue to grow stronger on the operative and technological fronts, and will continue to protect the security of Israel."
Voting at a polling station is liable to be a stressful event, which can even cause changes in our hormonal indicators.  

This stress can, however, be reduced by voting from home - as suggested by a new study conducted jointly by researchers from the University of Haifa and the University of Nebraska, and which has recently been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"There may be people who abstain from voting at polling stations because of the stress that voting in public causes them. For such individuals, voting from home could be a solution that will allow them to exercise their democratic right," said Dr. Israel Waismel-Manor from the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa who conducted the study.  Learn more. 
Wall Street Journal Cites New UH Research on Cataracts in Diabetics
Prof. Sharon Poliakine Describes the Vibrant Creative Atmosphere at the University of Haifa School of the Arts at UCLA Luncheon   
Earlier this week The Wall
Street Journal featured
new break-through research on preventing cataracts in 
diabetics by Dr. Nitsa Mirskyo
of the Department of Biology at the University of Haifa. 

It seems as if a compound found in brewer's yeast that mimics the effects of insulin could help prevent cataracts and eye disease in people with diabetes.

The study on rats treated with glucose tolerance factor, or GFT, was published online in Experimental Biology and Medicine. The next step in human trials.  Read More
 
From left -- Shulamit Nazarian, Osnat Rechter, Professor Sharon Poliakine and Soraya Sarah Nazarian at the luncheon.

Professor Sharon Poliakine, founding Head of the School of the Arts at the University of Haifa, was guest of honor at a lunch hosted by the Dortort Center for Creativity in the Arts, Hillel at UCLA.   

More than 50 members of the Los Angeles art community, including many members of the Nazarian family, major benefactors of the University, were in attendance.

Prof. Poliakine's spoke about the School's diverse student population and their artistic accomplishments in music, fine arts and theater.  She also stressed the need to provide scholarships so students from all segments of Israeli society have the opportunity to develop their creative skills and realize their full potential. Contribute to scholarships here
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